


Like Buses

by loisselina (LoisSelina)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Emma's 7 in this and is already so jaded, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Frozen Red Snowing, I want to hug her (despite me causing her all of this pain whoops), Multi, OT5, Polyamory, Young Emma, am I starting yet another wip to avoid starting my dissertation, did I make and get sucked into another poly ship?, in my defence I am the absolute queen of procrastination, polyamorous family, year I am, yes - Freeform, yes i did
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-02-23
Packaged: 2019-03-20 16:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13721226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoisSelina/pseuds/loisselina
Summary: You wait ages for a parent... then five come along at once





	Like Buses

 

David pressed a kiss to his foster daughter’s forehead, she couldn’t be gone, she just couldn’t. He loved her so much, he had been in the process of trying to adopt her, she was the only person in his life. He loved her more than life itself. But now she was gone.

As his lips touched her head, his daughter’s head, magic spread out and across the town.

Images from the story book flashed in Emma’s head:  
_Snow, David, Anna, Ruby, and Kristoff’s adventures to getting together, married, Snow pregnant, and then her birth. She watched Zelena’s curse start, David carrying her in his arms as Ruby and Kristoff helped him fight knights, Anna was helping Snow but Snow insisted she go and help David, Ruby, and Kristoff save Emma. She watched David place her in the wardrobe, he had been stabbed and was bleeding, Ruby and Kristoff were both injured, they came stumbling in trying to save David, Anna came charging in fighting knights a few seconds after them. They got there just in time to see David close the doors of the wardrobe with Emma inside. They all got a last glimpse of Emma. David was bleeding on the floor as Snow struggled in, in pain from giving birth, she fell to her knees and clutched onto him, Anna, Kristoff, and Ruby did the same as Zelena and her dark knights came in._

Emma opened her eyes.

The curse was broken.

Tears rolled down David’s cheeks as he cupped Emma’s cheek. She was so small in the hospital bed, smaller than a seven year old should be, but he remembered how much smaller and how injured she had been when she had be dropped at his apartment. But he realised now that she was his biological daughter. She had been with him for months and he hadn’t realised. She had tried to tell him, along with her friends August and Henry, but when she told him the story she had never believed that she was the baby in it. She was seven and didn’t let herself have even that amount of hope. “Emma.” He choked out. “You found us.”

“D-… Daddy?” She asked quietly.

David laughed, he couldn’t believe that she was really there, she was looking fairly weak after the sleeping curse but she was _there_. “Yeah kiddo.”  He took her into his arms, and cuddled her tight, she hugged him back.

After a little while Emma spoke again. “Y’know, you can stop hugging me now.”

“You scared the shi-sugar out of me. I’m never going to stop hugging you.” He told her but he let go of her, smiling at her comment, he loved her personality and the way she was so sassy.

“You can say shit y’know.”

David gave her a look but he still had a small smile on his face. “I can say it but you’re not allowed to.” He kissed her forehead after she rolled her eyes. “Let’s get a doctor to check you over, you-” He sighed. She had almost _died._ “You really scared me, Emmy.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, it’s Zelena’s, we’ll make sure that she won’t be able to do it again.” He pressed the button to get a doctor to come. “How are you feeling?”

“…Not tired.”

“That means the opposite then.” David chuckled. He heard a sound of feet approaching but saw that it was just a nurse entering the room. He looked back at Emma. “Your mommies and other daddy are going to be so happy to see you.” He promised her.

Emma looked up at him uncertainly.

David frowned seeing that she didn’t believe him. “We’ll go find them soon, you seem better so you should be able to go to home, but if you can’t then I’ll get someone to tell them that we’re here. I just wish that I’d remembered to pick up my cell.” He also wished he could get the sight of Emma passed out after eating a poisoned turnover out of his head.

“I’m sorry.” She said again. “You should go and find them, you’ve not seen them properly in years, I’ll be fine on my own.”

“I’m not leaving you on your own, kiddo.” He told her gently, he stroked her hair until the doctor came in, even when she was there David made sure to stay close to his daughter. "And they want to see you too. We all want you. You're our family."

The doctor checked Emma over and made sure that she was okay to go, she insisted that takes it easy over the next couple of weeks.

 

* * *

 

 Once they were out of the hospital David strapped her into her booster seat in his truck and he started to drive towards the centre of town keeping his eyes peeled for any sights of his spouses.   

They came across Kristoff first. David quickly got out of his truck and helped Emma out before running to reunite with his husband.

Emma stood back a little, watching her fathers kiss, she couldn’t believe that she actually had fathers now, and mothers, she kept waiting for one of them to realise that she wasn’t theirs. She was trying not to get her hopes up but she also felt terrified that they might decide that she wasn’t the right fit.

 She was trying to stay calm when she suddenly realised someone was crouched in front of her, Kristoff, she remembered how kind he always was to her and how he gave her extra ice cream and toppings when she and David went there. She chewed on her thumb, an old habit she had quickly grown out of when she had been bullied about it by other children, but she need the comfort of it now. She felt David take steps closer to her and place a comforting hand on her back.

Kristoff looked at Emma with tears in his eyes, he couldn’t believe that she was his little girl, the one he had been talking to for months without even knowing, the one he had been so excited to raise. “Hey monkey.” He smiled warmly at her, feeling proud when she looked a little less scared at his warm tone, and the nickname he had called her during the curse. He had never realised just how green her eyes were. He had only been this close to her once when she had been born, he had taken note of every one of her features, her eyes had only grown more vivid with time. “You have your mommies’ eyes, all of them have green like yours, but I think yours are even brighter. And you got your blonde hair from me and your other daddy.” He could see her smiling a little but he could also tell she wasn’t sure what to do or say. “I don’t think that you’ve grown much since you were a baby.” He teased.

Emma poked her tongue out at Kristoff but she also smiled. She hesitated for a few seconds before tentatively wrapping her arms around Kristoff. “Thanks for all the extra ice cream.”

Kristoff chuckled and wrapped his arms back around his daughter. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “No problem, monkey, anytime. You can… You can come there with me sometimes if you like, I’ll pay you in ice cream.”

Emma beamed and automatically looked back at David to check it was okay, as she had done often when David was just her foster father, it was easiest to think of him as her father. And despite not wanting to get her hopes up she couldn’t help but hope that the story book was true _she was their daughter_.

David gently squeezed Kristoff’s shoulder comfortingly, but his husband smiled up at him in understanding, they all knew that it would take some time for Emma to be comfortable. “I think it sounds like a good idea, I heard that Sven came over during the curse with us, I’m sure that your dada will introduce you to him if you ask him.”

Emma looked back at Kristoff with a beaming smile. “Really? You have a Sven like in the movie?”

Kristoff chuckled at least the movie version of him wasn’t too bad, he had a feeling that David wouldn’t like the movie version of Snow White’s Prince Charming. “Yeah, I have a Sven, but he’s much more awesome than he is in the movie. And I know that he already loves you, so much, but not quite as much as me, mama, daddy, mommy, and mor.”

“What’s a mor?” She tiled her head to the side.

“Its, erm, where me and Anna are from, Arendelle, we speak English but we also speak a couple more languages like Norwegian. Mor is another word for mom. It’s what Anna’s name is, was, gonna be.” He watched Emma slowly nod. “But you can call us by those names or by our names , whatever you feel comfortable with.”

They heard their names being called and they all looked to see Ruby and Anna running towards them. Emma stood to the side again as her parents all reunited.

“Hey little bean.” Anna beamed looking at Emma, tears rolled down her cheeks as she hugged Emma. “You were right! You’re _so_ clever, you figured it out! ”

Emma tentatively wrapped her arms around Anna, she had known Anna during the curse, not quite as well as she had known Ruby and Snow, but she had spoken to Anna often enough that she was comfortable with her. Anna had been one of the only ones to indulge her in the belief of the curse, all of her parents had, and Henry’s mom Regina, her step-grandma she supposed. “Morry.” She whispered, mostly to herself, but she felt Anna stroke her hair and cuddle her closer in response.

“That’s right baby.” Anna whispered back. She smiled at Emma changing it slightly, she thought that it was perfect.

“She went to hospital.” Ruby frowned, she crouched down and her eyes examined Emma as Anna finally let her out of the hug, the curse had broken and her werewolf senses were back. She could smell the disinfectant along with the unique smell of a broken curse. She looked at David who gave her a look back to let her know that she was okay. “Are you okay pup?” She gently stroked Emma’s cheek.

Emma chewed on her thumb again. She nodded her head. “Yeah, I’m okay, my... my David helped me.”

Ruby smiled at the seven year old, she had heard Emma calling David that during the curse, she had clearly been wanting to call him ‘my dad’ even then. “Good. Can I… Can I hug you?” She could tell that Emma was feeling a little overwhelmed, she was meeting her parents, and she had been in a coma. It was _a lot_. “It’s okay if you don’t want to.” She assured her, she wanted to hug her baby more than anything, but she wanted her to want to do it not out of some sense of obligation.

Emma wrapped her arms around Ruby almost as soon as she had finished her sentence. She had been hugged by Ruby during the curse, sometimes she or Snow would watch Emma if David desperately needed them to, if he was called in for an emergency at work. “You smell like cinnamon.” Emma said after a while, Ruby didn’t just smell like that she also smelt like berries from either her shower gel or her shampoo, but the scent just reminded her of meeting Ruby for the first time when David took her to get a hot chocolate with cinnamon.

Ruby breathed in deep. She still had the faint smell of baby. She cuddled her close. She was _her_ baby, her Emma. “Is that a hint that you want some hot chocolate, pup?” She teased and felt Emma shrug against her. She kissed her golden curls. “I’ll make you the best mug of hot chocolate and cinnamon you’ve ever had, we just have to wait a couple of minutes, your mommy’s on her way. We had all split up to look for you and your daddy, we didn’t know that you were in the hospital.”

Emma pulled back a little. “How do you know she’s on her way?” Her head tilted to the side, she had said it so certainly, and made it sound as though she knew it would be within a couple of minutes.

Ruby paused, she looked back at her spouses, letting them see the fear for a fraction of a second. She had had this conversation with several people over the years, only people she had to tell, and it was not too surprising to her that many of those people acted negatively. “You know the story book pretty well, right?”

“Henry and August read it to me… I liked the pictures best.”

Ruby smiled warmly at her. “Well, I don’t know if you heard about this, but I’m, I’m a werewolf.” She held her breath in fear that Emma would be disgusted or run away screaming.

Emma was silent for a beat. “Woah, that’s so cool!”

Ruby beamed. “Thanks pup, it also means that even when I’m a human my senses like my sense of smell are really good, so I can tell where people are. Like your mommy, who is right…” She trailed off knowing that Snow had reached them. She grinned as her spouses parted so that Snow could see Emma, they all knew that Snow and David would reunite the same as they all had with each other, but that Snow needed to see Emma first. She had been the only one to not have seen Emma go through the wardrobe, she had held her when she was born, but by the time she got to the nursery the wardrobe was empty and Emma was gone.

Snow paused, her breathing hitched as Emma turned around to face her, tears filled in her eyes as she saw her baby again. She started to run to close the gap between them, and when she reached Emma she fell to her knees and cupped her face in her hands so gently that she was barely touching her. “My baby.” She whispered.

Emma tried to refrain from chewing on her thumb before nervously asking Snow a question. “Is it really all real?” She had grown close to Snow during the curse, she hadn’t taught Emma but she had taught August and Henry whom Emma was close to, Snow had looked after Emma for David some times. Emma looked from her mom to her four other parents who were stood behind where her mom was crouched in front of her. “You’re all my mommies and daddies, really, really?”

“Yes baby, this is real. We’re really your mommies and daddies.” Snow promised. “And we’re never, _ever_ , going to be apart from you again.”

Emma let Snow pull her into her arms. Emma buried her head in the crook between her shoulder and neck. She started to cry, silently and unnoticeably, the way she had automatically learnt to do growing up in foster care.

Snow and the others didn’t notice Emma crying, she just looked like she was cuddling close, but Snow rocked her a little automatically calming the child. “I love you so much. We all love you more than you can imagine.”

Eventually Snow stood up and smiled at David, he was the only one she hadn’t reunited with now. “Charming.” She smiled as his hands went to her cheeks. “You found me.” Her voice was slightly teasing as it always was when she said that line, she knew what he would say in response.

“Did you ever doubt I would?” He kissed her gently at first before they deepened it, the same as he had kissed his other wives and his husband, they were finally all reunited.

The adults started to discuss which of their places they would be staying in, David felt a weight against his leg, clinging onto it. He placed his hand on top of Emma’s head and had a short but silent conversation with his spouses using only their eyes.

They took a couple of steps away from David and Emma. It killed all of them knowing that Emma was only attached to David, they knew she liked them all, but she was uncertain at the moment and they knew that it would take some time for her to be able to trust them.

David crouched down so that he was eye to eye with his sleepy daughter. He cupped her cheek with his hand. “How you doing kiddo?”

Emma shrugged her shoulders avoiding what he really meant. “I’m not tired.”

David chuckled, this was something they were always having to talk about, Emma was stubborn and insisted she could take care of herself no matter what, he was always having to remind her it was his job to look after her. “It’s way after bedtime, princess, and you need to rest. Now, I have a question for you: We’re going to go home now, but we need to decide which one, we can go to ours, or we can go to mommy’s, it’s a lot bigger and we could move the mattresses to have a big sleepover together.” No matter where they spent the night there was no way she was leaving their sight for the next fifty years. “I have your backpack with your blankie and some clothes and other bits in my truck so you don’t have to worry about that. It’s up to you where we go.”

Emma leant forward so that she was leaning against him, her thumb went to her mouth and this time she didn’t even care that everyone could see her, she felt David wrap his arms around her and he picked her up.

David stroked her hair and rocked her soothingly. He kissed her forehead. “I know, baby, it’s been a long day. I know this must be hard, but it’s all going to be okay, I’ll be right there with you the entire time. Do you remember my promise to you when you first came to live with me? I’ll always look after you and make sure that you’re safe. You just have to let me. Deal?”

Emma looked into his blue eyes, as he willed her to believe him, and she did. She knew that he loved her, completely, but she was still terrified that she would do something to mess it up. But she was too tired to care about that right now. “Deal.” She agreed. She could feel herself growing sleepier, she sighed gently, and led her head against his shoulder trying to stay awake. “Can we go to mommy’s?” She murmured.

“That sounds like a good plan to me kiddo.” He kissed her head again and walked back towards his spouses. “Now, who should we make ride in the bed of my truck instead of the seat, Emmy?”

“How come I have a feeling I’m going to end up being the one?” Kristoff piped up. He knew that they were one seat short of getting them all inside David’s truck, and he was the only one to have brought a car.

“Because we love you?” Snow offered fluttering her eyes and leaning against him.

“I mean... I think we should make the dog…” His eyes twinkled mischievously.

“Ooh.” David chuckled knowing he was going to be in trouble.

“You are _so_ going to be the one in the doghouse.” Anna told him wrapping her arm around Ruby’s waist.

“I will get my own back, stable boy.” Ruby promised playfully. Truthfully she was so happy that they could finally be reunited and they could finally tease and joke with each other again. Ruby shot a smile at a very sleepy Emma who was watching them, she wasn’t tense, which was good as it meant she knew that they weren’t really fighting. “What do you think, pup, Dada has to ride in the back and he gives us all ice cream tomorrow?”

Emma looked at Kristoff and saw him smiling, she knew it was safe for her to answer freely, she looked back at Ruby and grinned properly, her smile was identical to David’s. “Yeah.”

They all smiled at Emma sounding less scared or uncertain than she had all night.

“Okay, cheeky monkey, you can help me scoop everyone’s then.” Kristoff told her watching her smile at getting to do that job.

“We should get going.” Ruby told them. “The sooner we do the sooner we make sure a certain someone gets some rest.” Her eyes flickered to Emma who was close to falling asleep in David’s arms.

They began to walk, Anna and Ruby had their arms around each other, Kristoff held onto Anna and Snow’s hands, and Snow rubbed her hand down Emma’s back as David carried her, Emma was facing down the line at all of her parents, she didn’t want to lose any of them.

“I’ll make some hot chocolate and cinnamon when we get home. I make it better than mama.”

“Only because I taught you how.” Ruby pointed out.

“Yes, but I make it extra chocolatey.”

“Chocolatey’s good.” Emma stated she watched Snow beam with pride and felt a warm feeling in her chest. She was proud of her. Her _mom_ was proud of her.

Once they reached the truck Ruby climbed into the front passenger seat while Snow raced to be able to sit next to Emma’s car seat in the back, Anna sat next to Snow, the two cuddling up slightly. Anna found Emma’s backpack, David had packed for the hospital, and held onto it carefully so they would remember to take it inside.

“Be careful Kris.” David worried watching him climb onto the truck bed, he wasn’t about to lose his husband, though he knew it was fairly safe… safer than the horse races they used to have as kids.

“Always Davey.”

David rolled his eyes at the nickname but smiled as he placed Emma into her carseat and made sure she was strapped in tight.

“Let’s go home.” David told her kissing her forehead.

Emma let her eyes drift shut as soon as David climbed into the driver’s seat, she knew that she had all her parents now, they were together and safe. They were going home. They would never again be separated.


End file.
